US Patent 6901448 Secure communications system for collaborative computing

A method of distributed collaborative computing is provided. The method includes: partitioning a collaboration function into sub-functions; assigning at least one said sub-function to each of a plurality of logical processes; associating a respective management process with each of said plurality of logical processes, said logical processes configured so that each said logical process is capable of communicating with every other said logical process through said respective management process; communicating between said logical processes using said respective management processes; and monitoring said respective management processes with a single supervisor process; wherein said communicating employs a secure protocol on a dedicated network.